Haynes Boone Partner Jeff Dorrill spoke with Law360 for a feature examining why certain attorneys continue their legal career as they get older.
Read an excerpt below.
In the past 15 years, Jeff Dorrill has won multiple national championships as a triathlete, published a children's book and completed three graduate degrees. As he approaches 65, Dorrill's well-rounded life might suggest he's ripe for retirement from the law.
The Haynes Boone real estate attorney has no such plans: He continues to find his work interesting, and believes that it helps keep his brain engaged and stimulated.
"Almost everything I've learned in life has been [through] observing attorneys in my firm and other firms and trying to model them," Dorrill said. "They do it a little bit better than I do, and so that's super motivating to me."
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Among his numerous extracurricular pursuits and accomplishments, Dorrill is a multiple winner for his age group in the USA Ultra-Distance Triathlon National Championship, which involves a 26.2-mile run, a 2.4-mile swim and a 112-mile bicycle ride.
He believes that attorneys who pursue other interests outside the law not only are more likely to be well-rounded and physically and mentally healthy, but are also more likely to be better lawyers and appear more viable to their younger clients, as they learn lessons from those experiences.
"It's hard as a 65-year-old or a 70-year-old to have a connection to a 35-year-old," Dorrill said. "But if you're out there doing other things besides practicing law that are impressive, I think that's a great way to signal to that younger person that you're not at the end of your legal career."
To read the full article from Law360, click here.
